Crafts for kids World Book Day ideas

World Book Day – Captain Underpants costume

World Book Day - Captain Underpants costume

My 7 year old recently caught the reading bug. She has been reading all her older brothers books, which means she has devoured the Captain Underpants, Barry Loser and The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. She is regularly falling asleep with a book on her face and I love that she just wants to read.

George from Captain Underpants costume

Over the last few years both my children have got involved in World Book Day celebrations. I’m not a huge fan of spending money on costumes as I’d much rather spend it on books! This year my son in Year 4 is going to school in his pyjamas and dressing gown. My Year 2 daughter can either dress up in her pyjamas or go dressed as her favourite book character. When I asked her what she would like to wear for World Book Day she said George from Captain Underpants. Apparently he is the clever one.

I looked at the cover of her Captain Underpants books and knew that her costume would be pretty easy to pull together as George wears shorts, a shirt and tie. My daughter loves to be warm so decided she would wear black trousers, but wanted to decorate a tshirt to look like George’s shirt and tie. It was simple and cheap to make.

George from Captain Underpants World Book Day costume

I found one of her brothers’ plain tshirts and checked my fabric pen supplies, only needing black, red and yellow. Then I laid out the plain tshirt and roughly drew on a collar and tie.

George from Captain Underpants costume

My daughter helped me to colour in the tie with the red and yellow fabric pens. These were really easy to use, designs can be heat-fixed by ironing and they are washable up to 30C.

making a costume for World Book Day

When we had finished decorating the front we decided to decorate the back. We added Georges’ name, and my daughter wrote Captain Underpants just to make it clear who she was 🙂

George from Captain Underpants

What is World Book Day?

This year World Book Day falls on the 7th March 2019 and is in its’ 22nd year. World Book Day is a registered charity on a mission to give every child and young person a book of their own. It’s also a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world.

World Book Day books

Both my children are taking part in WBD celebrations in their schools and are looking forward to receiving their Book Tokens to get either one of the TEN (exclusive, new and completely free) books or using it towards the cost of a new book.

How are you celebrating World Book Day this year?

You may be interested in our other World Book Day posts:

Where’s Wally World Book Day costume

George from George’s Marvellous Medicine World book Day costume

4 Comments

  • Reply
    michelle twin mum
    March 7, 2019 at 9:08 am

    This is briliant, I love the simplicity of it. I have to admit I am so glad all mine are at secondary and I never have to contend with it again! lol Mich x

  • Reply
    Sarah | A Few Favourite Things
    March 7, 2019 at 10:28 am

    What a wonderful way to get the children’ involved with World Book Day costume making rather than just the parents doing it

  • Reply
    Five Happy Things {Week 231} - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    March 11, 2019 at 8:58 am

    […] Book Day was celebrated on Wednesday and Thursday. My daughter went dressed as George from Captain Underpants, my son wore his pyjamas and dressing gown, and I went as The Cat in The Hat. Luckily we picked up […]

  • Reply
    Create a book nook for World Book Day - the-gingerbread-house.co.uk
    August 17, 2021 at 12:32 pm

    […] made our own costumes. These have ranged from George from George’s Marvellous Medicine to George from Captain Underpants. Last year we upcycled an old wooden pallet to make a book sign post, and my children painted the […]

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